It lowers annual forecasts due to the macroeconomic worsening and will seek additional cost savings of 1,000 million
MADRID, 15 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The British telephone operator Vodafone obtained a net attributable profit of 986 million euros in the first six months of its fiscal year, which represents a decline of 1% compared to the result recorded in the same period of the previous year, reported the multinational, which has cooled its annual forecasts due to the worsening of the macroeconomic climate.
Vodafone’s turnover between April and September reached 22,930 million euros, 2% above the revenue recorded in the first half of last year, including a 1% increase in revenue from services, up to 19,207 million euros. euros, although in organic terms they increased by 2.5%.
Specifically, Vodafone’s revenue from services in the semester decreased by 0.8% in Germany, to 5,730 million euros, and 2.8% in Italy, to 2,125 million, as well as 4.5% in Spain, with 1,782 million, while they increased by 7.6% in the United Kingdom, to 2,712 million, and 2% in the rest of Europe, to 2,552 million.
Likewise, Vodacom’s services business increased by 8.9% in the semester, to 2,472 million euros, while the turnover of Vantage Towers grew by 7.5%, to 657 million.
On his side, Vodafone’s net debt at the end of the semester was 45,523 million euros, 2.8% more.
“In the context of a challenging macroeconomic environment, we are delivering a resilient performance this year, as well as making good progress with our portfolio and operational priorities,” said Nick Read, Vodafone CEO.
“We are taking a series of measures to mitigate the economic context of high energy costs and rising inflation,” he added, referring to the implementation of pricing measures across Europe and the push for energy efficiency measures. in the whole business.
Looking ahead to the full year, the company has pointed to the worsening global macroeconomic climate, with energy costs and broader inflation in particular, affecting Vodafone’s financial performance.
In this way, it has expressed its confidence in reaching an adjusted gross operating result (Ebitda) of between 15,000 and 15,200 million euros, compared to the previous range of between 15,000 and 15,500 million, as well as an adjusted free cash flow of about 5.1 billion, down from the previous estimate of about 5.3 billion.
Given this situation, the CEO of Vodafone has announced a new cost savings target of more than 1,000 million euros “focused on further optimizing and simplifying the Group”.
Vodafone’s action plan to mitigate current macroeconomic challenges includes pricing initiatives and an extension of its ongoing efficiency program.
In this sense, price initiatives have been implemented in 12 of the 13 European teleco markets, including contractual price increases, as well as reduced promotional discounts, which has allowed for price structures linked to inflation in 7 European markets. .
“The extension of our efficiency program will deliver over €1 billion of additional cost savings by FY26 through streamlining and simplification of our group structure and further accelerating the digitization of our operations,” added the business.
